cutier33 wrote:I am currently trying to decide between this Brand and Roomba. How do I find the moofi link please?

The link to moof changes daily, so a site like this may help.

moofinder

cutier33 wrote:I am currently trying to decide between this Brand and Roomba. How do I find the moofi link please?

Personally, I've owned Roombas for years (I currently have 4 w/one working. And a working scooba. And an Oreck upright)

I bought one of these during the last sale and it is SO much better for vaccuuming. More suction, better recovery. I've had it running daily and it picks up so much, the Mrs. asks "did our old vacuums actually work? Or did they just run over the floor and make it look like it?"

I bought an XV-11 a few months back and it does an excellent job on my hardwood floors (no carpet, 2 area rugs).

Our house has 2 cats and 1 dog who sheds constantly and noticeably. The dog also brings in lots of dirt/sand from the backyard so I have to empty the container daily.

The filter on the container gets very dirty, very quickly.

You'll need to spot clean the areas which the vacuum can't get to like right up against the baseboards once a week or so.

It tends to get stuck on the dog's Kong toy because it's a hard rubber material and creates friction that can't be rolled over. Not too big a deal, it does bleep and whine when it's stuck.

Please make sure to name yours. Ours is Speedy Gonzalez.

wootalyzer wrote:Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
NEATO XV-21 Pet & Allergy Robotic Vac
$299.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

I've been through several robotic vac's over the last few months.

The roomba series are really just glorified sweepers. Yes there is a small vac motor in there but it has no real suction to speak of. I've tried the 550 and the top of the line 800-series. But they are small, get under furniture, and always return to base.

Counter that with the NEATO, which I also had. The NEATO would have been the one I kept except for the fact that over 50% of the time it would forget how to get back to the charging station and that little plastic bit that sticks up makes it get stuck a lot more often and causes it not to be able to fit under stuff that roomba can. It's louder, but it has a superior vacuum inside and really picks up dust and dirt. Works equally well on carpets or hard wood floors. It does a more methodical back-and-forth pattern after cleaning the perimeter, as compared to roomba's random criss crossing. Also, I found NEATO to get stuck on things like my speaker stands or the cat scratching post almost every time it ran; it would hit them on the corners, try to go up and over them, and get themselves stuck.

One plus for the Neato is that if it runs low on battery it will just go back, charge, and restart where it left off. Repeats until your place is clean. In my experience, roomba just returns home when low on juice and that's it.

The magnetic barriers you're supposed to use with NEATO seem awkward; do you glue them to the floor? Who wants that? In that way the roomba system seems to be better.

The straw that broke the camel's back with Neato, however, was when it sucked up a cat toy (a little fur ball with crinkle foil in it, about the size of a golf ball) and I came home to a helpless lifeless NEATO and the faint smell of a burned motor. Roomba never pulled one of these toys in, it finds a way to just push them around and not suck them up.

Ultimately what we needed, roomba did well -- sweep the hard wood floors and get up all the cat littler the cat brings out on to them (despite using every cat litter trapping carpet and floor covering known to man). The latest designs make all of the surgical cleaning of the roomba less necessary; I don't have a problem with cat hair clogging the bearings.

If NEATO fixed these things, it would be the perfect vac. But it went back to where I purchased it, now using the roomba, which gives an overall better experience even if it doesn't clean carpets and really just only sweeps.

I got this after my Roomba failed after several years use. IT is NOT at all as good as Roomba.
It does not do a good job around chair legs, and close to walls. It does not have that little horizontal "whisk" Romba has that picks up the small stuff in the corners.
It is not good in large areas, I have to run it 3 times for it to cover the combined kitchen and family room.
Roombas "light houses" are much better and easier to use that the strip you get to divide rooms into areas.
I do not recommend this product.

What's problem? I try sometimes for the payment by paypal or Master. But it's always shall 'payment denied'

linxin wrote:What's problem? I try sometimes for the payment by paypal or Master. But it's always shall 'payment denied'

Hi there,
You'll want to contact customer service at service@woot.com to see what the deal is.

(We forum sorts have no access to your account information, so they'd be able to help you fastest!)

Woot! Our foster dog peed on my old Neato a few weeks ago, killing the electronics and negating the warranty. I've wanted the pet version for awhile, and will keep this one away from the little devil. Anybody want to adopt an adorable chihuahua mix? heheheh.

linxin wrote:What's problem? I try sometimes for the payment by paypal or Master. But it's always shall 'payment denied'

It may be that you are from outside of the contiguous 48 states or using a credit card from outside of the United States.
From the FAQ: Why isn't my state/country/province listed; do you ship internationally?
No, we do not ship outside of the 48 contiguous United States at this time. We do not ship to Canada, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, nor to Maggie's Nipples, Wyoming or Assinippi, Massachusetts at this time.

The Neato is a bit loud, but I've found I can still watch TV if I'm willing to turn up the volume a bit. And it picks up so much dirt, dust and fur that it's a fair trade with the noise. It is strangely attracted the dogs food and water bowls - it keeps bumping into them until its sensor finally realizes that there's something there!

ok so whats the deal. Compared to the XV-14 is the only difference:

new brush?
new filter?
new color?

my understanding is for hardwood(which i have) the old brush would be better. I should mention i don't have pets.

The only difference i was able to find was that the 21 is quieter, but i think that may be due to the new brush??

Damn. I got a standard one a few weeks ago for almost the same price.

Two things:

1. The XV-21 is an XV-11 with a brush, special filter and some purple paint. You can turn your XV-11 into an XV-21 by purchasing the pet kit from Amazon.

2. I bought an XV-11 a while back from Woot and at first was very happy with it. But then I found out that Neato simply can't vacuum our entire house without having to be helped out multiple times, it constantly gets stuck, lost or "blocked" even when nothing is in it's way. Read my review here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RGS5G4ISP2ZGU/

I would not buy this again.

acacia987 wrote:ok so whats the deal. Compared to the XV-14 is the only difference:

new brush?
new filter?
new color?

my understanding is for hardwood(which i have) the old brush would be better. I should mention i don't have pets.

The only difference i was able to find was that the 21 is quieter, but i think that may be due to the new brush??

You nailed it. Here's the breakdown:

XV-11 = Dark gray Neato. The Neato website shows that the XV-11 is now black.

XV-12 = A light gray XV-11 (they call it "white").

XV-14 = a black XV-11. This is a redundancy since the XV-11 itself is now black.

XV-21 = A gray and purple XV-11 with a brush brush instead of a squeege brush and a fancy filter.

My understanding is that all the units (XV-11, XV-12, XV-14, XV-21) are identical except for their colors and in the case of the XV-21 a different brush and filter.

You can get the same brush and filter that the XV-21 has from Amazon, it's called the "pet kit". I think it's much better for both carpet and hardwood than the squeege style brush, it picks up more dirt IMO.

You are correct that the brush is much quieter than the squeege. Also the fancy filter supposedly increases suction, though how you could tell I do not know.

None of any of this changes the fact that Neato gets stuck constantly and can never vacuum our whole house without help from me.

another question.
the costco website says for the xv-14
"Added Value: 3 Replacement Filters &
6 Replacement Brush Blades and 1 Replacement Squeegee Blade"

are these brush blades the same as the xv-21's, or are these different?

The Neato XV-21 is the best model that neato makes/sells.

They are brand new in full color retail boxes.

http://www.neatorobotics.com/product/vacuums/xv-21/#tab-whats-in-the-box

Per Neato website:

What's In The Box

Neato XV-21 Robot Vacuum
Charging Station
Charging Cable
6’ Boundary Marker
2 Brushes
1 Filter
User Guide
Quick Start Guide



With that said and per the picture on neato it comes with 2 brushes.

Per amazon look at the pictures of the retail box it shows 2 brushes...

http://www.amazon.com/Neato-XV-21-Allergy-Automatic-Cleaner/dp/B007JOJ9QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347291203&sr=8-1&keywords=neato+xv-21


For those of you with an XV-11, XV-12 or XV14 (costco cheap model) that want to make it a Neato XV-21 pet and allergy model you can purchase the $59.99 UPGRADE kit which includes the special filter/brush.

The high efficiency filter traps 3 times more dust and dirt compared to the normal neato vacuum!

Pricing data on amazon for the neato pet and allergy upgrade kit for $59.99.
http://www.amazon.com/Neato-Pet-Allergy-Upgrade-Kit/dp/B0083ONH1Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347291080&sr=8-1&keywords=neato+pet+and+allergy+upgrade+kit

We bought one (not the pet/allergy) model last year and LOVE ours. It is ideal for people with pets and mostly hard floors. It handles what few rugs we have alright but its amazing what it picks up from the edges along walls. You'll still have to vacuum but it cuts down on the amount you have to do tremendously. Very few products do I go out of my way to comment on and recommend to others but this is one of them.

acacia987 wrote:another question.
the costco website says for the xv-14
"Added Value: 3 Replacement Filters &
6 Replacement Brush Blades and 1 Replacement Squeegee Blade"

are these brush blades the same as the xv-21's, or are these different?

Different.

All non-pet Neatos (XV-11, XV-12, XV-14) come with a squeegee "brush". Use of the word "brush" is a misnomer because the squeegee brush has no brush. It only has rubber squeegee blades, which are replaceable. The Costco kit includes extra rubber blades.

The XV-21 comes equipped with and actual brush, as in it has bristles. You can buy this brush for any other model of Neato vacuum, it's available as part of the Neato "pet kit" on Amazon.

The squeegee brush is louder, especially on hardwood floors, but requires less cleaning because less stuff gets stuck in it.

The actual brush included with the XV-21 or the neato pet kit has bristles instead of squeegees, so it's much quieter and picks up more dirt and hair. But it also needs to be removed and cleaned more often.

comstock827 wrote:Are you able to program it to run multiple times a day? I have 3 young kids and would love for it to automatically run after each mealtime!

I don't know if this is possible, but we use ours to clean up after my nephew is over all the time. Like some have mentioned, it isn't always the greatest around the legs of charis and the table so if it is real dirty I move the chairs out to clean the best.

We will typically just pick it up and run it in the dining room and then put it back up. To clean your house it will run for an hour or more and is pretty noisy.

It does have a Spot Clean feature, but it only really does about a 4 foot square area.

I love my Neato after 2 years of ownership. I had 4 Roomba's in the previous 10 years and they were virtually useless because of the pet hair. They would crap out after 30 minutes and say to clean the brushes. Not my Neato, rarely have to clean out the brushes.

pinthea wrote:I've been through several robotic vac's over the last few months.

The roomba series are really just glorified sweepers. Yes there is a small vac motor in there but it has no real suction to speak of. I've tried the 550 and the top of the line 800-series. But they are small, get under furniture, and always return to base.

Counter that with the NEATO, which I also had. The NEATO would have been the one I kept except for the fact that over 50% of the time it would forget how to get back to the charging station and that little plastic bit that sticks up makes it get stuck a lot more often and causes it not to be able to fit under stuff that roomba can. It's louder, but it has a superior vacuum inside and really picks up dust and dirt. Works equally well on carpets or hard wood floors. It does a more methodical back-and-forth pattern after cleaning the perimeter, as compared to roomba's random criss crossing. Also, I found NEATO to get stuck on things like my speaker stands or the cat scratching post almost every time it ran; it would hit them on the corners, try to go up and over them, and get themselves stuck.

One plus for the Neato is that if it runs low on battery it will just go back, charge, and restart where it left off. Repeats until your place is clean. In my experience, roomba just returns home when low on juice and that's it.

The magnetic barriers you're supposed to use with NEATO seem awkward; do you glue them to the floor? Who wants that? In that way the roomba system seems to be better.

The straw that broke the camel's back with Neato, however, was when it sucked up a cat toy (a little fur ball with crinkle foil in it, about the size of a golf ball) and I came home to a helpless lifeless NEATO and the faint smell of a burned motor. Roomba never pulled one of these toys in, it finds a way to just push them around and not suck them up.

Ultimately what we needed, roomba did well -- sweep the hard wood floors and get up all the cat littler the cat brings out on to them (despite using every cat litter trapping carpet and floor covering known to man). The latest designs make all of the surgical cleaning of the roomba less necessary; I don't have a problem with cat hair clogging the bearings.

If NEATO fixed these things, it would be the perfect vac. But it went back to where I purchased it, now using the roomba, which gives an overall better experience even if it doesn't clean carpets and really just only sweeps.

DOH...it has a vacuum..therefore it will suck things up. I have dog toys and will just pick them up..I have had both and will never go back to the Roomba, it broke down and had to take apart to repair, fixed it and gave it to my daughter with the caveat that if it breaks...toss it. You don't 'glue' the strips down, just cut to size and lay on the floor, not rocket science for sure. You have to be intelligent enough to read the instructions and follow them.

Macoland wrote:Can someone provide insight on the new brush? I hated the Roomba because I had to clean the brush all the time. Neato claims that their curved brush design is amazing, but I would imagine that hair will get caught and wrapped around just like any other brush. Thoughts?

I have the XV-11 and I bought the pet upgrade kit. My wife has long hair that sheds constantly and I do have to cut hair off of both brushes regularly to keep it going. The newer pet brush is quite a bit easier to cut the hair out of and getting to the brush is very easy. The bad part is that you cant necessarily set it to go before you leave for work and come home to a vacuumed house because the brush gets stuck. With a little more planning and awareness this shouldn't be a problem.

The negatives I have about this are:
-Battery isn't good enough to finish my 500 sq ft carpeted room without recharging
-Dirt bin fills up unless vacuuming daily and dumping daily
-Area to be vacuumed has to be free of cords, toys, and socks
-Vacuum occasionally is "unable to navigate" and can only be set back on track by resetting at base
-I have to break out the upright about every other week to clean around the litter box and get corners that Neato can't.

I have owned this for about 4 months and will buy it again even if it breaks down tomorrow. I have two cats, a toddler, and a cruising baby and I just can't keep up with the vacuuming needed for the health and safety of my little ones. Honestly, I am considering buying this one today so that I have a back up- but that is the hoarder inside talking.

Just as a heads up, since it came up here in the forums, the buyer has verified the contents (an additional picture which can be seen here).

comstock827 wrote:Are you able to program it to run multiple times a day? I have 3 young kids and would love for it to automatically run after each mealtime!

No, multiple schedules in the same day are not available. But you can start it manually by just pressing the big orange button at any time and it will do a whole-hose clean.

Also, if you want to pause Neato in the middle of cleaning (phone call etc.) you can press the big orange button. I don't think this is mentioned in the manual or anything, but it works.

I was sitting on the couch watching my XV-12 do its Monday cleaning when I first saw today's Woot. Same price I paid on Home Woot just 2 weeks ago, but that's okay. I've added the pet upgrade kit to my Amazon wishlist and will try it sometime.

In the meantime, I'm loving this thing. I ran it as soon as it was ready to go. We live in a modest 2 bed/2 bath duplex and I had to empty a full dirt bin 3 times! It got stuck once under a bed on some thick foam-like clumps that my cat keeps digging out of the box spring, so I don't blame Neato for that. We just threw it all away and will keep the cat from doing it anymore. It also got itself wedged between the toilet and bathtub, so we'll either just keep that bathroom closed or it could be solved by putting a trash can or basket on that side of the toilet.

It also seemed to get confused by a bedroom door that it could push about an inch or two, but the door would come back, so it felt like it was an obstacle I guess? Solved that by putting a small heavy object in front of the door to prop it all the way open/against the wall.

Has had no problems returning to its base. We have it on a Monday and Friday schedule. It does a little more than half of the house before returning to charge. After just cleaning on Friday, it did its first half just now, is recharging, and already had a full dirt bin. So it really does its job (or we're pretty disgusting people, I'm not sure which :D )

It also picked up like a half a pound of my fiancee's hair, most of which got wrapped around the roller, which I had to cut out with a knife. But I'm hoping after a week or so, that'll be less of a problem as it begins doing so regularly. We really put it through its paces in that first week since we don't vacuum much.

This is why this product is great for people like us. We'll say we need to vacuum more, but we end up putting it off to where we're really only doing it like once a month, or before people are coming over. This way, it's just done, twice a week, way more than we ever would do it ourselves. And I'm also hoping it cuts down on the dust that ends up sitting around on furniture. Yes, we have to keep cat toys and shoes off the floor, but that's just a bonus in that it helps you keep your place looking tidier.

Very happy so far.

downing9790 wrote:You don't 'glue' the strips down, just cut to size and lay on the floor, not rocket science for sure. You have to be intelligent enough to read the instructions and follow them.

Actually, despite your smarmy "I know what I'm talking about" reply, you're wrong.

The magnetic strips can be laid down on the carpet without much problem, though even then they will get moved a little bit by Neato.

But on a hardwood or tile floor you probably want to use double-sided foam tape to hold them down. We blocked off our cat's water dish area because Neato would knock the dish over and spill water everywhere. The strips laying on the floor didn't work, Neato just managed to push them around as he vacuumed and the problem continued. We stuck them down with double-sided foam tape, problem solved.

Is there any phone number that woot can be contacted on?

willi2011 wrote:Is there any phone number that woot can be contacted on?

No, but you may always mail service@woot.com with issues. (Preferably product related issues.)

I'm amazed no one else has said it: If only my pets would kindly confine their messes to perfectly flat, continuous, level, clear surfaces, MAYBE I'd find the concept of this product useful. Alas, the bulk of their debris doesn't quite strike me as evenly distributed across my floor.

BTW, as I write this my Neato XV-11 is hopelessly lost in my bedroom as it tries to return to base for charging. It's banging around under the bed, bashing into doors, and generally just erratically jarring about while the screen says "I'm returning to my base station to charge."

In fact, as I was typing this post I could hear that it had given up. I went in the bedroom, and sure enough... there it is in the middle of the floor, nothing in it's way, stopped dead with "Please clear my path" on the display. Despite there being not a single thing in the way. Blech.

And now it found it's way out of the bedroom... and promptly turned around and went back in. Now I can hear that it's stuck under the bed. What a waste of time.

TheIginator wrote:The video is sped up throughout the middle. It's not as fast as it appears.

Ah that explains it, I had sound off so it's hard to tell

On a completely different note, does anyone know the best way to contact Woot about only receiving part of an order? I sent a message to their feedback page but haven't heard back and don't know if that was the right place to send it to. I received 1 of the 3 same items I ordered.
Thanks for any help or advice anyone has to offer!

molex wrote:BTW, as I write this my Neato XV-11 is hopelessly lost in my bedroom as it tries to return to base for charging. It's banging around under the bed, bashing into doors, and generally just erratically jarring about while the screen says "I'm returning to my base station to charge."

In fact, as I was typing this post I could hear that it had given up. I went in the bedroom, and sure enough... there it is in the middle of the floor, nothing in it's way, stopped dead with "Please clear my path" on the display. Despite there being not a single thing in the way. Blech.

And now it found it's way out of the bedroom... and promptly turned around and went back in. Now I can hear that it's stuck under the bed. What a waste of time.

Sounds like a problem with your Neato perhaps? Might be worth contacting them; I've read from many other posts on various sites that they're great about replacing defective units.

Mine seems to always run out of battery about the time it's in my bedroom across the house. And each of the 4-5 times we've used it so far, it always comes out with no problem, takes a right, goes through the kitchen to the living room, and around the dining room table to its base with zero issues.

I have the XV-12 and this is one of the best robotic vacs. Like Ronko, you set it and forget it. This is a great deal as well. I'm glad to see, from looking at the specs, that they changed the roller design to suck up long pet/human hair. If someone is wanting it, get it, you won't be disappointed. Plus their customer service is top notch. When my first Neato went a little bonkers (not sentience or anything of that sort) they sent me a new one out for free since it was under warranty and I shipped the faulty one right back.

PemberDucky wrote:you could start a fake twitter account on its behalf. i'd follow that.

"NOW I'M UNDER THE BED. IT'S SO DARK AND I'M SO ALONE."

This just made me snort LOL. I'm imagining poor little NEATO with it's tiny electronic voice (picture the turrets from Portal 2) tweeting about abandonment issues, internal fears, and emotional abuse. Amazing.

kierara wrote:This just made me snort LOL. I'm imagining poor little NEATO with it's tiny electronic voice (picture the turrets from Portal 2) tweeting about abandonment issues, internal fears, and emotional abuse. Amazing.

"MY BATTERY IS LOW. I AM DYING. WILL I DREAM, DAVE? WHY IS IT SO COLD..."

Italianajt wrote:I have the XV-12 and this is one of the best robotic vacs. Like Ronko, you set it and forget it.

Maybe YOU set it and forget it. Mine won't go a single cleaning cycle without needing to be rescued at least twice, usually more like four times. In fact today I got tired of rescuing it and just cancelled the cleaning.

PemberDucky wrote:send an email to service@woot.com and they'll be able to answer your question! (also keep in mind that sometimes your order might arrive in multiple shipments, if that sheds any light on your situation.)

I did send an e-mail to that address last week and haven't heard back from them which is why I was worried I had sent it to the wrong place. I know things get shipped out differently but these were the same items just different colors and it says the items have been delivered. I will just continue to wait to see if I hear back from them, and e-mail them again if I hear nothing back soon, but I do hate being a nuisance to a website that I like so much.